Theatre Acting Skills: Fun Improv for 45 Minutes

I've been teaching theatre since 1996 and have produced countless shows with cast after cast. There are a few basic lessons that every new actor must learn before they are ready to audition for a play and receive a script. This class will cover those basic lessons: Variety in Voice, Body Consciousness, Emotion and Story in a Character. 

This class is a little different, though, because it is an ongoing class which students can join or leave at any time so it does not build lesson upon lesson but instead is an opportunity every week to practice the skills we use to create a character. In this class students will learn how to create a character using variety in voice, body movement, and emotional connection by simply PRACTICING the art. 

We will use a variety of fun and engaging exercises to give students an opportunity to immerse themselves 
in the art. Although I will have pre-determined theatre games to play, students can request favorite games to play again. 

Intro Games: June 1-3
Week One: Theatre games will include but not be limited to:
Name and Action (getting to know names)
Aquarium Name Game
Murphy game ("I am a…")
Three things
Funny Voice ("to be or not to be")
Leader

Creating Characters: June 7-10
Week Two: Theatre games will include but not be limited to:
Introduce me
--Introduce me Class List
--Introduce me student choice
--Introduce me Teacher list
Telephone (after Introduce Me)
Interview Me

Commercial: June 14-17
Week Three: Games will include but not be limited to:
Commercial
Commercial, class items

Improv: June 21-24
Week Four: Games will include but not be limited to:
News Cast
Machine
T.V.
Panel of Experts (“that’s right and”)

Storytelling: June28-July 1
Week Five: Games will include but not be limited to:
Freeze and Justify
Fortunately/Unfortunately
Three Headed Oracle
“Wait! ____tells it (this part) better”
Narrator/silent film

Song and Dance: July 5-8
Week Six: Games will include but not be limited to:
Hot Spot Songs
Dance Moves to create characters: float, glide, flick, punch, wring, press
Zoom Dance Leader
Ballad

Tongue Tied: July 12-15
Week Seven: Games will include but not be limited to: 
Boss excuse
What are you doing?
Monologue
Gibberish

Miscellaneous: July 19-22
Week Eight: Games will include but not be limited to: 
Utter Nonsense
Emotion tags
Circle Cross (all students)
Circle Cross differently (one at a time)
Ball of Energy